You Need a Sam Gamgee

The Creative Rebellion • Dispatch #007 • 4 min read

Confession: this post should have been published last week. But I didn’t finish writing it in time. There were a lot of reasons for not getting it done, but the truth is:

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a creative, Resistance will still fight you. I’ve been creating since I could hold a crayon or a pencil. I have 35-year-old notebooks filled with artwork and short stories. But I still face Resistance on a daily—if not hourly—basis.

There is no defeating it once and for all. It’s a fight you will wage over and over and over again. Consider it part of the creative process.

Sometimes starting will feel like the hardest part. Sometimes it’s the middle that weighs you down. And other times it’s that final stretch as you near the finish line when Resistance extends a foot into your path, tripping you up just so it can watch you tumble into a heap while it crunches on avocado toast.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about collaboration, and how Resistance keeps us from sharing our ideas for fear they might be bad.

(Hint: a lot of them are)

Although there can be fear surrounding collaboration, there is also safety to be found. We might wish for the relative safety of solitude to avoid the fear of sharing our ideas, but that can be a mistake.

When we embark on solo creative endeavors, the journey can be lonely and can make us susceptible to giving up, sometimes before we even get started.

There are times when it’s important to close ourselves off and get to work. We need times of uninterrupted focus—deep work, to borrow the title of Cal Newport’s book. But every so often we need to connect, we need the camaraderie that’s inherent to collaboration.

The same comfort that can be found in a collaboration can also be found by merely sharing your struggles with another creative.

You don’t have to collaborate to share one another’s burden, but you do have to be willing to be vulnerable.

You have to be willing to actually share what you’re struggling with.

Can’t get motivated? Share that.

Stuck in the middle? Share that.

Unable to call the project done? Share.

Have a fear of hitting publish? Share.

You get the idea.

If you can share your creative struggles and your fight against Resistance, you’ll find you aren’t as alone as you thought. Because we all experience it.

You are not the only one who has ever faced Resistance.

My favorite book* is The Lord of the Rings.

It’s an epic tale that can be boiled down to a very simple summary:

Frodo must destroy the Ring of Power before it destroys him, or falls back into the hands of Sauron.

At the risk of spoiling the end of a 68 year old story…

SPOILER ALERT

…Frodo does accomplish his mission.

(Although, even at the end, at the edge of the fires of Mt. Doom, Frodo’s greed for the ring would have spelled defeat were it not for Gollum’s deeper desire for the ring.)

But he never could have done it alone. Gandalf died. The Fellowship was broken. He tried to leave Sam behind. Gollum tried to take the ring back. He was almost killed be a giant spider. And the Ring almost lulled him into surrender a number of times.

Sam was his constant companion. He couldn’t carry the burden of the Ring, but he could carry his friend. He could push him to the end. Protect him. Urge him on.

And though the rest of the Fellowship was split, they did their part to defeat the army of Mordor and help Frodo in ways unseen and unknown to him.

We all need a Sam. We need a Fellowship.

Find someone who can share in your struggles even if they aren’t sharing in your project.

When Resistance shows up, you’ll need a friend to urge you on in your mission.

If you’ve never read The Lord of the Rings, what are you waiting for? Get a copy now!

*Nerd side-note: Yes, it’s usually viewed as a trilogy, but Tolkien only published it as three separate books at the insistence of his publisher. He meant it to be one epic piece.

When the publisher wouldn’t go for that, he aimed to split it into six parts (each published book still contains a Book 1 and a Book 2). Still a no. (Post-WWII paper supplies and costs and all that.)

So it was released as a trilogy. But the best way to read it is as one giant story. I really like this version. Also, you don’t have to read The Hobbit for LotR to make sense, but it will help deepen the story. I like this pocket edition of The Hobbit.

Do you have someone to share your creative struggles with?

Until next Saturday...

Stay rebellious,

Travis

P.S. If you found this helpful, please share it with a friend.

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Judge me by how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are

The Creative Rebellion • Dispatch #006 • 4.5 min read

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Whoever said there's no such thing as a bad idea was dead wrong.

Some ideas are terrible.

If you really think about it, the life of a successful creative, in its simplest form, is the courage to get through enough bad ideas that you get to the good ones. And you work towards the occasional great idea.

How many bad ideas have you had? Too many to count? Me too.

A few years ago, I was the Creative Director for a local church. It was my team's job to plan, create, and execute all the creative ideas for weekend services, special events, and more. From design to music, video to lighting, stage props and special elements, we were tasked with creating at least 52 unique experiences a year, not to mention social, email lists, a website, print materials, etc.

When it came time for ideas, we usually gathered near a whiteboard, in our skinny jeans, armed with plenty of caffeine, MacBooks, and WiFi.

The way I viewed it, it wasn't my job to come up with all the ideas. It was my job to inspire my team to come up with their best ideas.

And most of the time that involved shouting out some ridiculous ideas.

But it all went on the white board.

It almost never failed, that as we went on, the ideas got better and better. But the secret that not many people talk about is that some of the "bad" ideas turn into good ideas. An idea, good or bad, can cause a chain reaction of creativity. It does two things:

1. It gets the ideation process started.

2. It lets everyone else know it's okay to share ideas that aren't fully formed.

1. Getting the ideation process started

Rarely does anyone want to be the first to offer up a bad idea. Open my mouth and embarrass myself? No thanks.

As the leader, sometimes I gave a few bad ideas to get us started. It set the bar low, and let the team know, if it's okay to share an idea like that, then maybe my idea isn't that bad!

One of Resistance's biggest weapons is fear.

Fear of what others will think.
Fear of what they will say.
Fear of losing your credibility.
Fear of not having the best idea.
Fear of not having your idea chosen.
Etc, etc, etc.

But that fear is combated with motion. Resistance wants us frozen in fear. Once we start moving, its hold on us loosens.

Pretty soon the whiteboard is full of ideas. Then we get to refine some, eliminate others, combine a few, and put some distance between us and fear.

2. It's okay to share ideas that aren't fully formed

Rarely do we have the perfect idea and answer sitting in our head, just waiting to be executed.

How many first drafts are exactly what gets published? I don't actually have the answer for that, but I have to imagine it's close to 0%. And the few that might have made it through definitely aren't as good as they could have been with some editing, rewriting, and polishing.

An idea might only be a spark, a feeling, a hunch.

It can take work to get to a fully formed idea that's ready to execute. Don't be afraid to do the work, but don't be afraid to start with the hint of an idea either.

If you're collaborating—or even working alone—everyone needs to know it's okay to share something you haven't fully thought out. Say it. Write it down. Add it to the pool of ideas. You never know, it just might be the one that has wings, or it might help influence another idea.

That's the other thing about bad ideas: they might indeed be a bad idea, but they might lead to a great one.

The creative process is long and winding. Sometimes a bad idea causes you to explore a path that you would have otherwise walked right by. And there might be gold at the end of that path.

Don't miss the gold that might be hidden at the end of a bad idea. Tease it out. Explore a little. Creativity is not an efficient process, you have to take the time to explore ideas.

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Last year, I saw a commercial for Hulu+ that resonated deeply. So deeply, that I had to make a carousel of it for LinkedIn. It's about brainstorming and bad ideas. It's a much shorter version of this newsletter.

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Along those same lines, I ran across an Instagram Reel of Matt Damon talking about collaboration and the creative process. He shared a simple, yet profound line about collaboration. But the line wasn't his own. It came from his buddy and long-time collaborator, Ben Affleck:

Judge me by how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are.

It's what Affleck said to him when they set out to write the screenplay for Good Will Hunting. What a great way to view collaboration! Great collaboration requires trust. It requires a safe space, where you can share all your ideas, good and bad.

And it's often the case that we have to get a lot of bad ideas out before we get to the good stuff.

Whether you're working alone or collaborating, don't be afraid of bad ideas.

Embrace them.

Sometimes they end up being gold.

Sometimes they stay bad ideas, but you have to dig through them and sift them out to get to the gold.

Until next Saturday...

Stay rebellious,

Travis

P.S. If you found this helpful, please share it with a friend.

P.P.S. Subscribe to The Creative Rebellion to be sure you never miss a post! Dispatches will arrive in your inbox every Saturday morning.